This invention relates to a filling machine for filling a bag or other object with a plurality of items contained within a filling spout positioned above the filling machine. More particularly the invention relates to an improved filling machine having a new and novel expanding fill spout which comprises at least two split sleeves which are pivotally mounted around the filling spout. The split sleeves are pivotally connected by mechanical means to a new and novel means for holding the bag in place on the split sleeve during the filling operation.
In the operation of filling large and bulky objects in a bag, such as charcoal briquets commonly used in outdoor cooking, the problem of coordinating the filling operation with the placement of the bag to be filled on the fill spout has long been felt. Prior art filling machines, within the inventor's knowledge, consisted of a solid fill spout formed on the bottom portion of a generally conical shaped filling container into which was automatically placed the proper amounts of materials to be filled in the bag. In order to properly position the bag .[.or.]. .Iadd.on .Iaddend.the solid filling spout, the operator would open the bag by hand and position the bag around the spout. This required the spout to be considerably smaller than the diameter of the bag so that the operator could attain the necessary speed in opening the bags and positioning them over the spout. Such crude hand operation often required the fill spout to be in the range of forty percent smaller than the .[.oepning.]. .Iadd.opening .Iaddend.of the bag which of course limited the amount of material that could be filled in the bag in passing through the fill spout and into the bag over a given period of time.
Another problem encountered with the hand filling operation of the inventor's knowledge was the use of the smaller fill spout opening which caused a bridging of the articles being filled within the spout. Since the opening was considerably smaller than the bag diameter, the objects being filled, such as charcoal, would tend to hang up within the fill spout thereby slowing down the filling operation or resulting in a bag which was either overfilled or underfilled, depending upon the timing sequence in the filling circuit.
In order to overcome these difficulties and others inherent in the prior art, the new and novel improved filling machine of the subject invention comprises means for positioning the bag below the filling spout in combination with means for automatically opening the bag and positioning the bag around the filling spout. The new and novel filling spout of the subject invention comprises at least two split sleeves which are pivotally mounted so that upon positioning of the split sleeves around the filling spout and within the bag, the filling opening within the machine is greatly enlarged over the prior art thereby allowing the bag to be rapidly filled without the bridging and hangup problems before mentioned and encountered in the prior art manual filling machines.
Accordingly it is an object of this invention to provide a new and novel filling machine for use in filling a bag with a plurality of objects contained within the filling machine whereby new and novel means are provided for opening the bag to be filled and positioning the neck of the bag around the filling spout.
Another object of the invention is to provide a new and novel filling machine having means for holding the bag to be filled on the filling spout while the objects are filled in the bag.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a new and novel filling machine of the type wherein a greater number of objects may be filled per hour resulting from the new and novel structure of the filling machine of the present invention.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved filling machine which eliminates hangups and bridgings of the objects to be filled within the filling spout thereby providing a more evenly filled bag and avoiding over and underfilling of the bag.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become immediately apparent from a study of the drawings submitted herewith and from a review of the description of the preferred embodiment.